For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died (2 Cor 5:14).

The verb “to compel” in Greek means “to seize so as to leave little room for movement.” Because of Christ’s love, we have no choice but to live as follows:

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (v. 15).

When the reality in which we live changes, the way we live also changes. Our reality is now that when Christ died for all, we also died together with him. If we died, we no longer can live for us who died, but for him who died and lives in us. In other words, we no longer have the ownership of our life, but Christ does. This is the new reality we live in.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

“From a worldly point of view” literally means “according to the flesh.” It is the standard that our flesh considers as reality. Christ is a son of a carpenter from Nazareth according to that reality, but he is the Son of God, the pre-existent Word according to the reality that the Bible teaches. And the same reality tells us who we are as follows:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (v. 17)!

Every creation is the fulfillment of God’s word. God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light. In the same way, he said to you, “Live!” and you began to live as the fulfillment of what he said. New creation deletes old destruction. When light comes, darkness vanishes. “The old has gone, the new has come!” The old reality is gone, and the new reality has come.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (v. 18):

All realities are made by God. His name is “I am that I am.” He is the source of all realities. Mass to which every object in this world owes its existence is one form of the reality that he made. But he can also create reality without mass. And according to this reality, anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. We know that our eyes can see only certain types of light, but there are many other types of light that we cannot see. Thus, what we see with our eyes is not the only reality that exists or we live in. God sees all types of lights. In fact, he is the source of all lights with which everything was made in a physical sense as well as in a spiritual sense: “the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland (Isa 43:18-19).

Therefore, as those who live according to a new reality, we should no longer count the things of the old reality. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” “To forget” means “not to remember, or speak about,” and “not to dwell” means “not to understand, or consider.” Do not take your past as your reality. Do not hold onto it. Now is the time of reconciliation, the time of God’s favor, the day of salvation, and the year of Jubilee.